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Hats off to winter woollies donor

A church bench has been wrapped in warm winter woollies for those in need as the cold weather bites.

The bench at St Giles Church, Wrexham, is one of several sites in the town which have been draped with scarves, hats and jumpers, all labelled “Please take me”. They have been left this week by a team of outreach volunteers keen to help Wrexham’s growing number of homeless people.

The Vicar of St Giles, the Revd Dr Jason Bray, urged anyone suffering in the cold during the day to take shelter in the church itself.

He said, “Cold weather often brings out the best in a community, and this is an example of someone from Wrexham showing they care. Over the last few days, the church which is open, heated and lit all day, every day, has seen an increase in all sorts of people sheltering from the cold, so when they say they don’t have a scarf or a hat, we can point them in the right direction. We also keep a box of spare clothes in the church for those in need.”

Dee Davies of the Wrexham Homeless charity, said she and other volunteers left about 24 jumpers and scarves around lampposts and shop doors around Wrexham and were also giving more out directly to homeless people.

Wrexham has one of the highest rate of rough sleeping in Wales, according to figures from the Welsh Government and its shelters were overwhelmed during the last cold spell in December.